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Escape

When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger - a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church.

Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens Rebecca Musser became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family.

Church of Lies

"My name is Flora Jessop. I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too. was one of twenty-eight children born to my dad and his three wives."

Lost Boy

In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet's compound and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they have been expelled by the sect.

Triumph: Life after the Cult - a Survivor's Lessons

The author of The New York Times bestseller Escape returns with a moving and inspirational tale of her life after she heroically fled the cult she’d been raised in, her hard-won new identity and happiness, and her determination to win justice for the crimes committed against her family.

Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints

Despite considerable press coverage and a lengthy trial, the full story of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints has remained largely untold. Only one man can reveal the whole, astounding truth: Sam Brower, the private investigator who devoted years of his life to breaking open the secret practices of the FLDS and bringing Warren Jeffs and his inner circle to justice.

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law, Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children.

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You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later.

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My Story

On June 5, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic, Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.

3,096 Days in Captivity: The True Story of My Abduction, Eight Years of Enslavement, and Escape

On March 2, 1998, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped and found herself locked in a house that would be her home for the next eight years. She was starved, beaten, treated as a slave, and forced to work for her deranged captor. But she never forgot who she was, and she never gave up hope of returning to the world. This is her story.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

"In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I dont think of myself as a victim. I survived...."

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Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

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Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement

In Cult Insanity, Spencer reveals the outrageous behavior of her brother-in-law Ervil---a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he was called to set the house of God in order---and how he terrorized their colony. Claiming to be God's avenger and to have a license to kill in the name of God, Ervil ordered the murders of friends and family members, eliminating all those who challenged his authority. Cult Insanity is a riveting, terrifying memoir of polygamist life under the tyranny of a madman.

The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir

Ruth Wariner was the 39th of her father's 42 children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can ascend to heaven only by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible.

Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed

Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.

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My Prison Without Bars: The Journey of a Damaged Woman to Someplace Normal

My Prison without Bars is a courageous and harrowing journey through the catacombs of hell, from the mind and voice of a little girl, living with her own monster underneath her bed. Written in first person, this novel is not a memoir, but more a psychological thriller based on true events; chronicling one woman's attempt to claw her way out of the darkness of Child Sexual Abuse, while struggling to find normal, in a not-so-normal world. It is poignant, dark and graphic; not for the faint of heart.

The Kuřim Case: A Terrifying True Story of Child Abuse, Cults & Cannibalism

In May of 2007, in a small, quiet town in the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic, a technical glitch - a simple, accidental crossing of signals - revealed a terrible case of child abuse, and an entire nation watched transfixed with horror as the grisly extent of the perversion of the maternal instinct was revealed. Two small brothers named Jakub and Ondrej, nine and seven years old respectively, were revealed to have suffered confinement, mutilation, psychological brutality, and cannibalism at the hands of several people.

Secrets and Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy

What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church. Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country....

Freedom: My Book of Firsts

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Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism.

Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me

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Publisher's Summary

In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women.

Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young.

Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship. Yet even in those bleak times, she retained a sliver of hope that one day she would find a way out, and one snowy night that came in the form of a rugged stranger named Lamont Barlow. Their chance encounter set in motion a friendship and eventual romance that gave her the strength she needed to break free from her past and sever the chains of the church. But though she was out of the FLDS, Wall would still have to face Jeffs---this time in court.

I thought the book was fascinating and gave great insight into the mindset of the FLDS. So little is known about this religion and culture, and the thing that was quite shocking was the lack of personal freedom. If you didn't know better, you would have thought it was written by a person born in a third world country, certainly not the USA. It is gratifying to know that light has been shed on some practices of the FLDS and that maybe the underage marriages and abuse might not go unnoticed and unpunished.
My one criticism of this audio book was the narration. The narrator was hard to listen to because of the constant whine in her voice that after a few chapters became extremely annoying. I know she probably was trying to portray the fear and emotions Elissa was feeling but to be perfectly blunt, it was dreadful. The narrator of Escape by Carolynn Jessup was much better.

This book is well written. It gives an amazing insight into the mindset of the followers of Warren Jeffs. My heart goes out to these young girls who are torn between their loyalties to their families and their right to make their own choices in life. After listening to this book, I am very relieved that Warren Jeffs is finally behind bars. Hurray for Elissa Wall and her incredible courage to stand up for justice.

The narrator of this book is so bad she actually corrupts the story. Add the bad acting to the nerve pinching tone and of her voice and you have an audio book that's very hard to get through. Forget about listening for extended periods of time. The book itself is filled with enormous gaps of information and huge leaps of circumstance. The young woman relating her story just, understandably, doesn't have the ability to give us the big picture - and many details are lacking. For instance, how did her sisters feel about marrying men 3 times their age? She's let go after being accused of stealing... completely glossed over. I think the book would have been more informative, factual and interesting had it been written by a investigative reporter rather than as a first hand biography. And, had it not been ruined by the narrator.

I agree with the other reviews; this narrator made me feel as if I were back in elementary school, and the librarian was reading to us from a picture-book. The story, however, was compelling, and very well-written.

This is a fascinating memoir about mind control, abuse, Stockholm syndrome, and learned helplessness and the enormous amount of courage it takes to break away. What makes it difficult to listen to is the narrator's stylized 13 year old voice that over dramatizes every sentence. The story does not need the extra drama and the narration is distracting rather than enhancing.

Like all the other reviewers, I find the content of this book to be quite interesting, but the narration gets unbearable in places. I can't even imagine what the narrator was thinking--it's like a badly-acted play. This is NOT an audiobook for people who are trying to figure out whether they like listening to books or not--it could turn someone off the medium for life! That said, if you can get past it, the book itself isn't bad.

This book was very interesting and I was saddened by all that the author went through in her life. I learned a lot about a group of people that I am so unfamiliar with.
I have to say that the narrator of this book seems to be whining through most of the book. There were a couple of times I laughed out loud at her narration and I feel that a different narrator would have greatly improved this audiobook.

I truly enjoyed hearing Elissa Wall's story of survival and victory over a seemingly untouchable individual and his followers. I have given "Stolen Innocence" 4 stars instead of 5 due to the narration. At times her voice was quite irritating. Overall, it is a great book.